Thanks to being awarded USD 5.12 million in tax credits, automotive glass manufacturer Guardian Automotive Products Inc. can make more and better components for the solar energy industry.
The award w…
Thanks to being awarded USD 5.12 million in tax credits, automotive glass manufacturer Guardian Automotive Products Inc. can make more and better components for the solar energy industry. The award was announced on 8 January 2010 by the Obama administration, and is part of a USD 2.3 billion package of tax credits intended to create clean-tech manufacturing jobs. The credits, which are worth up to 30% of the cost of each project, are aimed at manufacturing operations that make solar and wind energy products; products for making electric grids more efficient; fuel cells; equipment for energy conversion; and plug-in electric vehicles and parts. President Obama said the credit, from funds set out as part of a USD 787 billion stimulus package he signed in February 2009, would create 17,000 jobs and be matched by an additional USD 5 billion in private capital. Building a robust clean energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future, jobs that pay well and can“t be outsourced, Obama said. We“ll use those funds as we attract new business, spokeswoman Amy Hennes said from Guardian headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The three projects approved for Guardian“s Auburn plant are: o USD 3.38 million for retooling, enabling Guardian to double its production capacity of bent solar mirrors to 1 million a year; o USD 525,000 for equipment needed apply a reflective coating to glass before bending to maximize reflectivity; o USD 1.25 million to allow Guardian“s advanced radical-bent windshield technology to move into the solar industry. The components produced in Guardian“s Auburn plant will help create concentrated solar power, which uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight to generate heat to spin power plants or onto photovoltaic sources. For Guardian“s Auburn employees, the development of this technology and how widely it is used is urgent since, in October 2009, 64 of the plant“s 231 employees were laid off.